Diary 1

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Kia ora tātou

Today is the field trip travel day, and the ambassadors and I made our way to Auckland, taking a few photos along the way.

Kerikeri airport

My dad drove me and the ambassadors  to Kerikeri airport this morning. We said our good-byes and went inside the terminal building to check-in. Just as we were about to enter the terminal we heard the aeroplane land. It’s always a good sign when the plane turns up on time!

Check-in went smooth and it wasn’t long before the boarding call for our flight was made. Just a short stroll across the tarmac and into the aircraft before finding our seat. It was a full flight so there was no stretching out over both seats! Next was take-off, my favourite part of flying, before settling in for the 40-minute flight to Auckland.

Waste in the airways

During the flight I had a cup of water and a lolly. I started to to think about the waste generated from even simple things like the plastic cup holding the water and the plastic lolly wrapper - and this was just a short flight! Imagine how much waste is generated with thousands of flights, both short and long haul, happening each day all over the world. I wonder what happens to all this waste, and I wonder if airlines should be thinking more about providing food and refreshments in biodegradable packaging. Some food for thought anyway!

Auckland

After arriving at Auckland Airport and picking up the rental car, we headed north of Auckland City to Albany. Redvale Landfill is about 15 minutes’ drive from Albany, where we’ll be staying for the week. On the way we drove through the new Waterview Connection tunnel. LEARNZ recently did a series of four field trips about the planning and construction of these tunnels – you might like to check out the Waterview Connection field trips one day, available on the Field Trip Chooser page. Do an inquiry topic search on transport and they’ll come up. It certainly is an impressive tunnel.

Another road transport feature we used today was the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Construction for this bridge finished in 1959, so it’s a fair bit older than the Water Connection tunnel. This bridge essentially connects Auckland City with Auckland’s North Shore. It is the second-longest road bridge in New Zealand, and the longest in the North Island. 

Albany

A bit further up the motorway we turned off to Albany. Like I said, Albany is where we’ll be staying for the week, as it’s not too far from Redvale Landfill. Albany has one of the Auckland Region's newest sports facilities, North Harbour Stadium (known currently as the QBE Stadium). The ambassadors were keen to get a closer look at this stadium, so we went for a look. Luckily for us I got talking to one of the groundsman and he let us go right in for a walk around the field.

Once again I couldn't help but think about the waste that is generated at large sporting venues such as the QBE Stadium. I wonder if any of it is sorted into recyclables and non-recyclables before being taken to the landfill.

Quick look at Redvale

I thought it would be a good idea to go for a quick drive to Redvale Landfill, so we knew where we would be going tomorrow morning. It didn’t take us long but heading there during tomorrow’s morning rush hour will be the real test! We only stopped near the entrance for a short time before heading back to Albany to settle into our accommodation. 

It’s nearly 5:00pm as I write this. I have my door open and the traffic noise is constant, a lot different to where I live in Kerikeri! But a lot of people means a lot of rubbish – so get ready for fascinating week where you will find out where it all goes, what is done with it, and how it is used.

Mā te wā,

Andrew